How To Make A Pitch Deck On Google Slides

How to make a pitch deck on Google Slides?

Pitch decks are one of the most important parts of launching a startup. Google Slides has emerged as one the best tools for creating pitch decks. So, where do you start with making a pitch deck in Google Slides? What makes a winning pitch deck?

The Quick Hack To Make A Winning Pitch Deck In Google Slides

The fastest way to make a winning pitch deck in Google Slides is to adopt a proven template.

Taking advantage of a proven pitch deck template recommended by top investors, other entrepreneurs, and experienced fundraising advisors who have been actively helping others get funded just makes sense. It is one of the most efficient shortcuts you can take to funding success.

It is even better when you can get this template in a Google Slides format already. A format that you can simply upload to your own Google Drive account.

Keep in mind that in fundraising storytelling is everything. In this regard for a winning pitch deck to help you here, take a look at the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

Ways To Create A Pitch Deck

Whether using an existing proven template or not, there are several ways to create a pitch deck.

1. Use An Agency

There are agencies out there that will create your entire deck for you from A-Z. They may or may not have a provable track record of what their decks have been able to achieve, but they may be able to create visually appealing designs.

Expect to pay anywhere from $5,000 to over $50,0000 for this type of service. If you are raising millions of dollars it can still be worth the money. Though you have to make sure you have the fundamentals of the pitch deck right, not just pretty slides.

2. Freelancers

Freelancers can help do much the same work as an agency, it just means cutting out the middle man. You may have to recruit and manage both copywriters for the text and graphic designers for the visuals as these are two very distinct skill sets.

At least one of them should be an expert at creating pitch decks. There may be a little more interaction and work on your end with this option, but there can be significant savings while achieving the same level of results.

You might want to consider this option when figuring out how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides.

3. In-house Pitch Deck Creation

Some founders are tempted to have their own in-house team members working on the deck for them. If you have your own great graphic designers and copywriters that can be an advantage and may provide some additional savings.

However, you also still need to know how to create a winning deck that lives up to what your ideal investors expect. Know if they are really up to the job, or where they can help and create savings, while still investing in the most effective deck possible.

4. Do-It-Yourself

With so much on the line, and so much else to do you probably shouldn’t be trying to make your own pitch deck. Especially if you are not a professional copywriter or designer. It may not be brain surgery, though if you absolutely can’t afford professional help raising a friends and family or pre-seed round, then you can do it.

In this case, definitely do all the research and learning you can in advance, get the best advice you can afford, and look for a strong template to get you started with the right framework.

What’s A Pitch Deck For?

Before you start creating anything, get clarity on your purpose. Not just the purpose of this startup venture, but creating this specific pitch deck. What’s it for? What is the desired result of creating it?

There are actually a variety of uses for pitch decks today. Though if your goal is to use it to go raise funding for your startup, then you have to get really clear about what the finished deck should do.

It is a sales tool. Its whole purpose is to get you to the next step in the conversation with your investor prospects. That’s it. Period.

To accomplish this, it needs to:

• Make you stand out
• Create interest
• Instill credibility and confidence
• Compel action

Keep these factors in mind when learning how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides.

What Makes A Great Pitch Deck?

These are the most important elements of a pitch deck that will get your startup funded.

It’s Clear

If it isn’t clear, then investors will be confused, can’t smoothly move through to the next step in funding you, and will doubt your abilities to lead this project.

An effective deck is clear, because it is short, clean, concise, and laser-focused on just the most important things.

It’s Unique

It doesn’t have to be so crazy out there that not even Elon Musk would believe it is possible. Though you must have something unique and differentiating and be able to stand out. What’s special?

In turn, what is your competitive advantage that makes your venture the one to bet on in this space, and will create a moat to protect their investment going forward?

It Follows The Expected Flow

There are nine clear stages, or items addressed in a pitch deck. Investors expect the story and data to unfold in a certain way. It’s like filling out a loan application the right way, on their form, rather than using lipstick on the back of a napkin and shoving it in their noses. Give them what they want.

It Is A Really Big Opportunity

The problem and need is really big. The market and available business is really big and growing even bigger. It can at least offer 100x returns to those who invest early.

Make sure you are thinking big enough. Zoom out further if you have to. Consider at the moment this was being written, bitcoin hit $1T in value.

An insane race in just one year. More and more individual businesses (not just industries) are showing up to be valued at tens of billions of dollars.

According to the Wall Street Journal, even that little vaping device company JUUL went from nothing to being valued at $38B by 2018. It also raised almost $14B in equity.

These companies are eating unicorns’ lunches. They are the T-rex of the modern world. Unicorns are cute, but they won’t last long in this new landscape of supersized beasts on top of the food chain. And, that’s one of the reasons why you should know how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides.

You Have The Best Team To Do This

Remember, you don’t just have an educated team with degrees from well-known schools. You aren’t just a genius at creating products. You don’t just have a strong team. And, you have the best team to tackle and solve this problem and build a true fast-growth startup around it.

It’s Tailored

The best pitch decks, which actually convert viewers and audiences into participating investors and dollars are those which are specifically tailored to the target investors you are approaching.

Before you even begin assembling your deck, deciding on the positioning and language to use, make sure you have curated your target list of investors so that you can customize it to resonate, connect and engage with them.

List Your Slides

Hit books and movie scripts begin with the outline and storyboarding. Begin by outlining the sections and journey you are taking investors on with this document before you start wading into creating a way.

As an early-stage startup, this list of slides probably looks like this:

1. Cover slide
2. Problem slide
3. Solution slide
4. Market slide
5. Product slide
6. Traction slide
7. Team slide
8. Competition analysis slide
9. Financials slide
10. The ask slide

Get this information in order when learning how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides.

Gather Your Content

Get all of your content together so it is ready to plug into your template or a new deck of slides.

This includes:

• Your logo
• Contact information
• Team bios
• Diagrams and charts
• Other pictures and graphics
• Financial forecasts
• The text you will be using

Getting Started With Google Slides

Google Slides has many advantages when it comes to creating pitch decks for startup entrepreneurs, and for using them to actively raise money.

It makes team collaboration easy in the design stage. Everyone can be looking at and working on the same document in real-time. You can track changes easily, delegate new edits, and streamline the workflow.

Being integrated with the rest of your Google tools, including Gmail, Slides are easy to share, track, and work with seamlessly as you ramp up your fundraising campaign and actively start pitching and raising money. As well as for rolling from one round to the next in an efficient manner.

1. Getting started with google slides – why GS – integrated, easy to share and track and collaborate on
2. Name it – to save your progress
3. Choose a theme option or background if you will
4. Decide on your font/ sizes and colors
5. Copy and paste your text
6. Add images
7. Add speaker notes to help you talk through it as a presentation
8. Go back and cut filler words
9. Resize images to minimize file size as an attachment and ensure they display perfectly
10. Create a view-only / public version to share with investors and advisors and introduced
11. Request and compile feedback – get link
12. Iterate
13. Practice delivering it as a pitch presentation 3 to 20 minutes
14. Compile your supporting documents – for the data room
15. Get sending and pitch and meeting and fielding term sheets

Summary

This information should be a good starting point when learning how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides.

You may find interesting as well our free library of business templates. There you will find every single template you will need when building and scaling your business completely for free. See it here.

In the video below How to Make A Pitch Deck On Google Slides I cover the topic in detail.

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FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF THIS VIDEO:

Hello, everyone. This is Alejandro Cremades, and today we’re going to be talking about how to make a pitch deck on Google Slides. Before we get started, make sure that you hit that Subscribe button, and this way, you will never miss out on any of the videos that we roll out every week.

Google Slides has emerged as one of the greatest tools for creating pitch decks. In today’s video, we’re going to be breaking it down to you and giving you a step-by-step guide to create a very powerful pitch deck with Google Slides. So without further ado, let’s get into it.

The best way to get started is by using a template. That way, you don’t have to start from scratch. You can actually use the template below, under that video on the link below, where founders all over the world are using it to raise millions. You can just grab it, click on it, make a copy of it, and then you make it your own, and then you start building from that. That way, you don’t have to start from scratch because you also want to make sure that you’re pulling the right type of structure and the right type of flow that investors are actually used to when it comes to reviewing.

What are some of the ways in which you can create a pitch deck? You can actually use an agency or even an advisory firm like the one that we have, Panthera Advisors. Typically, those may cost you between $1,500 and $50,000. Now, that is a way to get something super sophisticated and super-professional looking. Another way could be freelancers. If you go to a website like Upwork, maybe you can get it at a very nice price. But, again, like everything, you may be getting what you pay for.

Another way of getting it done is internally. Perhaps you have a team, a designer, a copywriter that can help with putting all the language together. But again, you want to make sure that you’re not starting it from scratch and that you’re getting inspired by other pitch decks out there that have been very successful when it came down to really making it happen.

What is a pitch deck for anyway? A pitch deck is the presentation that is going to be putting the story of your business in the best light possible: what you’re doing, where you’re coming from, where you’re heading, maybe even what kind of investment you’re looking for, perhaps the team, the problem, the solution, the market. They are basically the best way to package your story so that other people can get super excited and perhaps even make an investment.

Keep in mind that on average, investors are spending two minutes and 41 seconds, 2:41. So typically, those pitch decks are going to have a very nice balance between images and also text. You are not going to be able to have a texty document because the last thing that investors want is to have to read. They want to skim through the presentation, so allow them to do that.

What makes a great pitch deck? Ultimately, the factors that are going to be determining a very good pitch deck are going to be the following:

• It’s clear.
• It’s unique.
• It follows the expected flow.
• It’s showing a really big opportunity.
• You have the best team to do this.
• It’s tailored.
• It’s listing these slides.

When it comes to listing the slides, you want to, again, follow the right type of structure and flow that those presentations include. When it comes to the flow, you’re going to be following this type of flow:

• Cover slide
• Problem slide
• Solution slide
• Market slide
• Product slide
• Traction slide
• Team slide
• Competition & Analysis slide
• Financial slide
• Ask slide
• Thank you slide

When it comes down to really putting all the work behind those slides, you want to gather all your content, and you want to put it in a way which is compelling and in a way that comes with a bang. Some of the things that you’re going to be looking out for are the following:

• Your logo
• Contact information
• Team bios
• Diagrams and charts
• Pictures and graphics
• Financial forecast
• Text you will be using

Now, when it comes to financial forecast, avoid making the mistake that most entrepreneurs make. You do not just want to grab a screenshot from your financial model and just dump it in there because you’re going to lose people. They’re not going to have the time to really review that. So, try to use beautiful slides and also break it down into perhaps multiple slides so that the investor is able to understand money-in and money-out, how you’re growing your customers, how that revenue is growing. Those are all different graphs that you’re going to have as part of your presentation.

When you get started with Google Slides, keep in mind that it is a fantastic tool for collaboration. You can literally grab your presentation and send a link to other members of your team that can collaborate on the go with you. It’s a great collaboration tool for larger things, more than one individual kind of thing so that everyone has their input.

When it comes down to getting started with putting your slides together with Google Slides, some of the things to keep in mind are the following:

• Integrate
• And also share, track, and collaborate with members
• Name it to save your progress
• Choose a theme, option, or background
• Decide on your font, sizes, and colors
• Copy and paste your text
• Add images
• Add speaker notes to help you talk through it
• Go back and cut filler words
• Resize images to minimize file size
• Create a view-only public version to share with investors and advisors
• Request and compile feedback
• Iterate
• Practice delivering it as a pitch presentation 3 to 20 minutes.
• Compile your supporting documents
• Get sending, pitch, meeting, and fielding term sheets

This information that we’ve provided in this video should be a good starting point for getting out there, putting your stuff on Google Slides, be able to track who is viewing it, and start to create momentum in you being able to raise money.

Hit a Like on this video. Leave a comment below and let me know what you’re up to. Then, also, Subscribe to the channel so that you don’t miss out on all the videos that we’re rolling out every week. And if you’re raising any money or whatever money, shoot me an email to [email protected]. I would love to help out. Thank you so much for watching.